SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Sep 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The La Palma eruption has provided an unusual testing scenario for the DRAGO instrument, the infrared camera of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) that has been observing the Canary Islands from space since January.
One of the purposes for which DRAGO was designed is natural disaster monitoring. Mainly, those that could occur in the Canary Islands, such as fires, oil spills or volcanic eruptions. DRAGO’s role is to provide infrared images from space to assist in the management and control of such disasters.
In the case of the eruption that began on September 19 on the island of La Palma, and in order to carry out a test as complete as possible, not only images were obtained from the satellite. Images were also taken in situ with the engineering model of the DRAGO camera, which consists of a terrestrial replica of the one currently orbiting.
The main characteristic of DRAGO is that it is a short wave infrared camera or SWIR (Short-Wave Infrared), which observes in two bands at the same time: 1100 and 1600 nanometers. These bands are not visible to the human eye or to conventional cameras and, among other properties, have the peculiarity that they can pass through smoke more easily than visible radiation.
Thanks to this field test, the penetration power of short-wave infrared radiation through smoke can be empirically observed, both from the eruption itself and from neighboring fires. As Carlos Colodro, electronic engineer at IACTEC-Espacio states, “the smoke particles emitted by the volcano greatly scatter visible light, to the point that they sometimes completely block vision. Instead, the type of invisible light to which it is sensitive DRAGO goes through the smoke with much less dispersion, which makes it possible to distinguish details of the volcano or lava that would otherwise be hidden. “
Ignacio Sidrach, software engineer at IACTEC-Espacio, adds that despite the scientific success of the tests obtained on La Palma, “some limitations have to be taken into account. These images are taken from a safe place, far away and with an optics of large field, so they do not provide all the necessary information required by the emergency services, with which we have collaborated on other occasions and with whom we will be happy to collaborate as much as we can when they require it. “
José Alonso, manager of IACTEC-Espacio, concludes stating that being able to have in the near future new versions of DRAGO in space with better resolution and performance, something that IACTEC-Espacio is working on, “will allow much information to be obtained more detailed and useful information on this type of catastrophe with the ultimate aim of minimizing its impact on society “.
